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Her face flushed. “Oh…you know. When people say stuff like MILF or DILF, they mean…”

Riley frowned. “No, I don’t know what you mean.”

Her flush deepened. “You know…brother I’d like to…”

Riley smirked at her.

Tea grumbled. “You’re messing with me.”

She whipped her head back and laughed so hard birds flew away from the trees across the lawn. She wiped her eyes, still laughing. “Oh no, honey. You’re the only one blessed with that honor.”

Tea ripped open the package of patriotic paper plates. “Not the only one,” she grumbled.

She knew she had absolutely no right to be jealous, but being hit with how gorgeous Janelle was and hearing that Archer dated her for two years never seemed to leave her head.

Friends. We’re supposed to be friends. I should be happy for his relationships.

Her stomach soured at the thought.

Riley seemed unfazed as she opened boxes of plasticware. “Well, the only one at Wild Pines. Hey, do you ever hear from Quentin and Deanna? I miss those losers.”

“No, never.” Tea pulled her hair into a ponytail, thankful for Riley’s quick change of subject. “You?”

“Nah. Quentin moved to San Diego and I think Deanna is in Austin? Kind of bums me out. We were all so close.” Riley glanced out at the water and paused, her eyes on the teenagers out on the raft. She pursed her lips, then did a scan of the lawn before reaching for her vape in her pocket and taking a pull. “Listen, Tea. I know you guys are chummy and all that again, but I need you to know how bad it was after what you did.”

Tea sucked in a breath. “I get it. I broke his heart.”

“You didn’t break his heart. You eviscerated it. I have never seen anyone fall apart like that before.”

She winced. “That bad?”

“Worse than bad.” Riley coughed. “Don’t fuck with him again, okay?”

She didn’t even know how to respond to that except with a nod.

Riley nodded back. “You could have texted me back, you know. A Facebook message or something.”

Emotion clogged her throat. “I know.”

She sighed. “Listen, I get it. You lost your dad, and I am still so sorry about that. He made every summer here better.” She took another pull of her vape, then exhaled a long puff. “I wish you didn’t shut us all out though.”

“And learn about all the ways Archer was falling apart?”

The door of Cabin F swung open. Archer was carrying a slow cooker, his mother tucking serving utensils under his arm to carry. Austin followed, balancing two trays in his hands, bellowing out a laugh at something Astor said from inside.

Archer scanned the lawn, then locked eyes with her. He tilted his head, clocking her expression from yards away.

“Just friends my ass,” Riley mumbled next to her. “And I thought Austin and I were complicated.”

Tea kept her eyes on them as they strode across the lawn. “What do you mean you guys are complicated? You were always meant to be together.”

“So were you.”

Tea faced Riley to retort, but was cut off by Austin. He plopped the trays of pulled pork sliders and finger Jell-O on the table, then grabbed for his wife, kissing her hard on the mouth.

A hand grabbed for her shoulder and turned her around. “No need to watch that.”

She flushed, her mind melting down to one single focal point: the warm tattooed hand on her skin.